Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Creek Runs Red

We had a "full house" of 20 visitors to Afton Station today, although I have to admit that a pretty large percentage of those were a family of eight from Tulsa. A big family like that will jack up the statistics in an instant. But they were far from the only visitors. Others came from Marshfield MO, Caneyville KY, and Grove and Miami, OK. We also had a surprise visit from friend and veteran Route 66 enthusiast Jane Dippel from St. Louis. She does a lot of solo trips, and this time she was driving to Tucumcari, NM on a last-minute whim because she said she just wanted to "get away". I can definitely relate!! It's always good to see Jane.

The folks from Caneyville, KY were driving an absolutely gorgeous '55 Mercury Montclair. Check it out and see if you agree. They are the owners and operators of the Pine Knob Dinner and Show, an outdoor dinner theater in Pine Knob, KY. Ron M. and I had the time this afternoon to view one of the DVDs given to me yesterday by Mr. Dollison, the man from Cardin, OK. Although he made all the other DVDs himself, this one was a copy of "The Creek Runs Red", an incredible documentary made in 2006 that tells the story of Tar Creek SO much better than I've ever been able to tell it. It won top awards at a number of film festivals that year. I implore you, when you have a spare hour, to please watch this. It's on Hulu and, if you were the slightest bit interested in what I've said about the problems of Picher and Cardin in previous posts (or even if you weren't!), it is worth every minute of your time. Remember, this area is just a few miles from Afton Station.

I've been trying to get a picture of this statue in Claremore for ages, but it's in the center median (oops, that's repetitive) of a busy road, so you have to be in the correct lane and stop just right at the traffic light in order to snap it. That finally happened today, although I caught the butt end of the horse and not the front. At any rate, it's Will Rogers, the most famous and revered citizen of Claremore.

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About Me

I'm the owner of Afton Station, in Afton Oklahoma, a small private Route 66 memorabilia and antique car museum housed in a restored filling station. We are visited daily by both domestic and foreign travelers who are exploring the charms of old Route 66. Their stories will be told here (and maybe a little bit of other stuff, too.) Since I live 80 miles from Afton Station, a straight shot on Route 66, you'll probably hear a lot about the Mother Road, too.